RAK Airways discontinues Colombo flights

Ras Al Khaimah: RAK Airways, the fourth national airline of the UAE, has suspended all its flights to Colombo of Sri Lanka, as the route proved to be inactive.

In an interview with Gulf News Shaikh Omar bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Chairman of the RAK Airways, said that following the recent general international conditions, and putting in mind that Sri Lanka has its own special conditions, the RAK Airways suspended all its flights to Colombo.

"There has been a conclusion that the Colombo route has not been active and that RAK Airways finds tough competition from other airlines which operate in Sri Lanka, so the flights to Colombo were totally suspended," he said. "We have tried this particular route but found that it was useless," he added.

"RAK Airways is currently looking for and considering other destinations. We are studying to go for Arab destinations. Lebanon and Egypt (Beirut and Cairo) are the current main targets," he said. "We are working on those two destinations."

Shaikh Omar said that the RAK Airways has earlier tried the Beirut route but later suspended all its Beirut flights due to the unstable political conditions and war in Lebanon at that time. Even the destination of the inaugural flight, which was scheduled to Beirut was changed from Beirut to Dhaka due to the political situation in Lebanon.

"At the time being we are considering our options at the RAK Airways," he said, adding that the real problem with new destinations lies basically with the licenses that should be obtained from the concerned countries. Securing licenses for new destinations takes time as they are obtained according to international treaties and agreements between countries.